orionburn

Not silly at all! That's a big milestone. 250 is my next big personal breakthrough. I honestly doubt I've weighed less than 250 since I was in middle school. Ways to go but I'll get there. Congrats!

Congrats! Wishing you a speedy recovery!

And here's the nutritional info for the Body Fortress brand. Despite having a few more calories I like it because it's 30g of Protein in a single serving and low on the carbs.

I've been using unjury Protein since that's what my doc's office sells, but given the price I'm going to be switching over to something more cost effective. In the past I've used Body Fortress which is pretty good. The vanilla was so-so but the chocolate was good. Optimum Nutrition was my all time favorite but their prices have gone up over the years, but their quality was top notch. I can't attest to anything outside of chocolate and vanilla, but I know ON has a crap ton of different flavors. For me the chocolate flavors tend to be a safest bet. I think both BF and ON mix extremely well in Water and still taste good, but I'll always prefer milk. Just use a good shaker bottle. Below is the nutritional info for the ON protein.

That. My doc told me the same thing.

First time trying an egg was rough for me as well. I'm just about a week into soft foods and the egg I had last night went down much easier this time.

Thanks! It's been a rough ride at times but today was one of those days where it felt like it's all been worth it. This is my first of hopefully many more milestones to reach

Good for you! I can't wait to get to that point. I've got about another week and should then be ready to progress to regular food again. I'm beyond being burned out on the shakes. Congrats!

Best of luck! Hope all goes well for you!

On day 3 or 4 I cracked and had like a dozen saltines...lol. I felt so guilty afterwards that I didn't do it again. That was the only "food" I had during my two weeks. I was too afraid of my doc because he was a no b.s. type of guy that would have walked away from the surgery if my liver hadn't shrunk.

Don't have an iPhone, but I know you control your notification settings within the notifications box. In there you have the options to choose how to be notified about posts. I have noticed that I've started to get notifications again despite having had some things turned off.

I'm on the pureed stage now and even super soft foods have been hit and miss. I tried an egg on the first day and it felt like it sat heavy in my stomach. Had one last night though and it tasted great and went down easy this time. Anything new I'm really leery about. Even if I can manage 4 oz of food I limit new things. It does seem like I've had a tougher time with dairy products than other foods. I've always loved yogurt but post-op it was difficult to eat some days. Today I had a Greek yogurt for Breakfast and it went down much easier than one I tried a few days ago.

I know it can be tough. Look at it this way - it's like being an alcoholic and having to face up that you can't go hang out in bars anymore. Yes, food is something comforting and what we are used to, but it's also the root of why we had to consider having surgery to help fight the battle. The other day I had a realization that realistically I'll never go to an all you can eat buffet again. it would be a complete waste. Does it make me a little sad? Sure, but when you sit back and think that sort of thing is why we have such an obesity problem in this country to begin with. As to foods that I really miss I know most I'll be able to enjoy some again in due time. For me I obsessed over quantity rather than quality. Binge eating was my biggest battle and needed something to combat it, so that was my reason for choosing surgery. It isn't uncommon to second guess things, especially during this period where we are so limited on what we can have. Way I look at it is that I've punished my body for a good 35 years so a few weeks of penance on my part is going to be worth it in the end!

Don't get too down on yourself. I lost more weight on the two week diet than I did the two weeks after surgery, but things are starting to pick back up again. Tomorrow I will be 3 weeks post-op and I'm down 18 lbs since surgery. The first week I hardly lost anything because of being so pumped full of fluids while in the hospital. It is really important to make sure you're getting your Protein & Water in as that will make weight loss harder. Keep focusing on that and things will kick in eventually. I know it's easy to feel bummed when you think you're going to be down 40 lbs in just a few weeks and it doesn't happen, but it'll get there.

Congratulations!

My best suggestion is to replace a current meal with either a Protein shake or broth. Maybe try working up to only having one actual meal on some days to prepare. I did that leading up to my 2 weeks and it seemed to help take the edge off. No matter what the first few days were still tough. It does take a fair amount of mental preparation for it. I kept in mind all the effort was to help shrink my liver and make surgery easier and that was a big motivator for me. For all the ups and downs and battles I went through for the past 6 months this was the home stretch and would all be worth it in the end.

My doc wouldn't allow it. You had to maintain a steady loss leading up to surgery. If he saw you gaining at the end, which meant binge eating, he would cancel the surgery. I think most everyone goes through this to an extent. The problem is food is just like a drug. Eat something terrible, but then feel that wasn't the right "fix" you were looking for and move onto eating something equally as bad. For me I wish to hell I would have had a last meal at Buffalo Wild Wings and gotten my wing fix taken care of. Problem is I would have gotten that fix and I would just be craving something else. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with having a few cheat meals here and there as long as it doesn't lead to weight gain. I had a good send off weekend prior to my 2 week pre-op diet but it wasn't anything insane. I was really careful in what I ate a few days before and after to offset any potential gain. I suppose you need to look at it as getting things under control at some point. We're all different and everyone handles addictions differently. The 2 week diet is not a walk in the park so bear in mind that the more you binge the tougher those two weeks are going to be.

Yes, for sleeves as well. I didn't know anything about it either until my final meeting and the office nurse said something about it. It's not something I plan on doing, but that's just me.

The purpose it to warn EMTs of doing a blind intubation in the event of an emergency. Since the stomach is so much smaller there is a higher risk of the intubation tube actually puncturing your stomach.

Seems that post-op diet guidelines all depends on your individual doctor. For me it was 2 weeks of full liquids post-op, and now I'm onto the pureed/soft foods stage for 2 weeks. Very limited thus far on what I can eat. At 4 weeks post-op I'll have more freedom to eat again.

I had a prolonged hospital stay because of some complications, but I drove myself about 1 week after surgery. The main reason they didn't want me driving was if I was taking my pain meds. Physically it didn't bother me getting in/out of my van at all. The biggest thing is simply wearing down quickly and the lack of energy. I was stir crazy and wanted to get out of the house but found that I couldn't go out for very long without running out of steam.

Leading up to my 2 week pre-op phase I substituted at least one meal with a cup of chicken broth (technically bullion cube in hot water). Mentally it helped get me ready for the liquid phase. Didn't completely prepare me but it did help at least. Are you drinking Protein shakes already as part of a diet plan?

It really is different for everyone. Most likely they're going to touch on what your diet requirements will be after surgery, which means the focus is on protein before anything else. Meetings with my nutritionist were about the things to avoid, things you want to have, and those general types of things. For me it was more the mental prep of how things were going to be after surgery. They gave me sample menus for a day and some different recipes for the various stages (full liquids, pureed stage, etc). Good luck on your journey!

I'm not even 3 weeks post-op yet, but already back into jeans that I haven't been able to wear in about 2-3 years so I'm happy for that! Noticing a lot of my former tight fitting shirts feel normal now and my former comfy shirts are huge on me. My wife also said she noticed a big difference in hugging me now compared to before.

Good luck! The first few days can be tough but you just have to keep telling yourself that the harder you try the better your surgery will go. This place was very helpful in getting through those two weeks.